On Manovich

Prologue:

As a cycling fan, I have come to love prologues. In cycling, they are our chance to see how our favorite cyclists are prepared to race in the coming days. So Manovich’s use of this prologue is a welcome addition to his text; one that I am highly receptive of. And in this first page of the prologue, I encounter an interesting idea. Manovich writes, “in contrast to cinema, where most ‘users’ are able to ‘understand’ cinematic language by not ‘speak’ it (i.e., make films), all computer users can ‘speak’ the language of the interface” (xv). This is an interesting idea…. Why? Do I believe that all computer users can speak the language of the interface? I honestly believe that most of us are speaking a pigeon version… because doesn’t speaking imply fluency? And I would absolutely argue that most interface users are not fluent in the language of that program. Manovich certainly doesn’t assert that all users are fluent speakers, but there is something about his statement that makes me think that it is perhaps overstated… I would almost argue that I know as much about movie making as I do about using computer interfaces.

On xvi, Manovich says, “cinematic perception [in computer games] functions as the subject in its own right,” which makes me think of the use of the Steadi-Cam in film. I remember reading about a scene in Friday the 13^th, in which Jason walks down a hallway and we are viewing the hallway through his hockey mask. The Steadi-Cam, by the way, was only invented in 1976.

Further into the prologue, I read the following,

“When photographs are brought together within a single magazine or newsreel, both the scale and unique locations of the objects are discarded—thus answering the demand of mass society for a ‘universal equality of things’” (xxi). It may just be that the idea is explained completely in the chapter that contains this pull quote, but I am not sure I understand this idea. Does removing scale and unique location create a “universal equality”? How exactly is scale removed from a photograph? Isn’t that an inherent quality of a photograph? Doesn’t the same hold true of unique location? I mean, the photograph itself isn’t in a unique location, but the information that is viable and valid about a photograph is mostly what the image consists of. And this idea that mass society demands a “universal equality of things”… what?

I applaud Manovich’s desire to record for posterity the emergence of this new media we are experiencing. It’s an interesting idea that once we become familiar with an idea or technique that it turns invisible to us. It’s incredibly true, but still something that I have not considered. This reminds me of children who are learning to speak. They grasp grammar rules on such a subconscious level that when they get older and can understand that their speech is guided by rules, it is still difficult to identify what the rules are. They have become invisible.

Finally, I love the description of the St. Petersburg art festival on page 5. Dancers, on stage, improvising to the music of the painter’s painting. Amazing.

I Shall Never Again Be Ashamed: "I have found my people!" And they are high-brow publishing folk!

From NYT!!!

The Kids’ Books Are All Right

By PAMELA PAUL

While au fait literary types around town await the buzzed-about new novels from Jonathan Franzen and Nicole Krauss, other former English majors have spent the summer trying to get hold of “Mockingjay,” the third book in Suzanne Collins’s dystopian trilogy, so intensely under wraps that not even reviewers have been allowed a glimpse before its airtight Aug. 24 release. What fate will befall our heroine, Katniss Everdeen? My fellow book club members and I are desperate to know. When will the Capitol fall? And how can Collins possibly top the first two installments, “The Hunger Games” and “Catching Fire”?

Oh, did I mention? “Mockingjay” is for teenagers. I am well into my 30s.

But I am not embarrassed by my, shall we say, immature taste in literature. And I wasn’t much concerned when, barreling through “The Hunger Games” at the hospital after giving birth to my third child, I hardly noticed whether he ate or slept. When will the rebellion begin, I wanted to know. Which suitor will Katniss choose? Nor am I alone. According to David Levithan, editorial director at Scholastic, Collins’s publisher, roughly half of the “Hunger Games” fans on Facebook are full-fledged adults. “The Harry Potter generation has grown up,” he told me.

For the full article

Weinberger Hits a Home Run

So I will admit that in chapters 1-6 I was not particularly impressed with David Weinberger's particular line of thinking. He seemed a bit enamored of the web, a little too giddy over its marvels, and, honestly, a little late to the party.

However (and that is a huge however), the chapter entitled, "Social Knowing" is where Weinberger really puts it all into perspective for me. He writes, "It's a pragmatic utopian community that begins with a minimum of structure, out of which emerge social structures as needed" (139). It's reminiscent of Lord of the Flies, but with grown-ups and electricity.

He also says,

"By announcing weakness without hesitation, Wikipedia simultaneously gives up on being an Oz-like authority and helps us better decide what to believe. A similar delaminating of authority and knowledge would have serious consequences for traditional sources of information because their economic value rests on us believing them. The more authoritative they are, the greater their perceived value" (141).

And this, really, is the true success of the Internet.To completely dismantle the idea that only those who are in the profession of publishing can make the decisions regarding information is the web's absolute crowning glory.

And this has long-reaching implications. We already see how Wikileaks is holding the government more accountable to their actions. The posting of government documents to a format that is publicly viewable is the first step in our citizens reasserting their democracy. There is a great parallel, I believe, between our passive acceptance of information through traditional channels (Encyclopedia Britannica) and our acceptance of what our elected officials do in Washington. They are those "experts who filter and weigh the evidence for us" (143). This seems to me like the beginning of a great awakening in America. Wikipedia may well be the first sign that our country is starting to realize "government for the people, by the people."  

Where does Sir Tim Berners-Lee live? I'd like to send that man some flowers.

Shoes... of all kinds. My digital photostory.

Miscellaneous Thoughts About Weinberger

As I am sitting here, the power goes off in the library. But I continue to work. Why? Because my internet connection is still live and the screen lights my fingers. I can’t see the book, true, but I can still explore what I want to write about. And I can still surf the net. That is a Faden, a string in German. A connection.


One of my favorite websites is Overheard in New York. It’s a place where New Yorkers go to post conversations that they overhear while in the city. It’s mostly shocking and outrageous, but also so funny in a wry, sad sense. And all I get is a little snippet. The good in me wants to believe that those people are really kind and loving and are rehearsing for a Broadway production or talking about something they overhead someone else say. But the site is one of those that you can’t help but look, and read. My husband doesn’t get it—he thinks the things posted on there are just sad commentary on the status of depraved human culture. But to me, it’s like looking in the medicine cabinet of some completely random stranger. These snippets of conversation (if accurately recorded, which is a whole nother Faden) are my way to see into some key, true aspect of their minds.  Here’s an example:

...So You Probably Shouldn't Insult Kuwait That Way.
Woman, gesturing angrily at new subway map: Did you see this? Look at this color! It looks like Kuwait! When I draw maps that's the color I use for desert wasteland!


Bystander: Well, it is Queens...

--1 Train; 
Overheard by: Rose Fox

To me, that’s the draw of the net. It’s nice that it’s being used commercially to make me buy books that I maybe didn’t want or need, and it’s also quite helpful if many Faden are able to connect the more important information that researchers and other bastions of society use to make their work more complete and productive. But it seems more valuable to me that I often make personal connections on the web with other like-minded people, which gives me a feeling of security and a sense of place. I am not alone in my randomly weird thoughts. I recently posted on my Facebook account for my friends to “sing” with me, one line per person, and I started the Faden:“I like mine with lettuce and tomato.” By noon, I had the song posted through the chorus by various friends. But, I was in a mood and I tossed it out there into the nexus of the internet. And before long, I was happy.

So what does this have to do with Weinberger? Well, honestly, the book is a few years old now, and many of the things that he’s talking about are no longer new concepts. But, commerce drives the advancement of many things, and it seems to be what is driving most of the miscellaneous development on the web. Google will now personalize your Google news page based on what you have been interested in the past. And if you don’t want a certain section, one quick click and it goes away.

Perhaps this all seems so un-new because we have finally made our computer experience sync more with the way our brains really work. For example, if I am driving down the street and I see a black Ford Ranger pickup, that makes me think of the car that my husband drove when he was in PA school. That leads me to think of PA school, which leads me to friends that we may not have heard from in a while, which makes me ask him how so-and-so is doing. And my husband may have seen the same black Ford Ranger and that truck led him down a similar path. If it did, then the question doesn’t seem misplaced in the context of our conversation. If he missed the pickup, he may ask me why I was thinking about that. I tell him, and relay the jumps that my mind made in getting to the question. So not only did the truck launch an inquiry into the status of one of our friends, it also potentially led to the disclosure of the metadata behind the question.

Jackie and Debra